Joan Chen

Chen came to international prominence as the highly sexed, opium-addicted empress in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" (1987). Film roles have been sporadic since, but she attracted further attention as the duplicitous and mysterious mill owner Josie Packard on TV's cult soap opera "Twin Peaks" (ABC, 1990-91), and contributed to Hollywood's increasing interest in Asian subject matter with her role as the heroine's mother in "Heaven and Earth" (1993). Trying her hand in more mainstream territory, she also served as Steven Seagal's leading lady (an Eskimo, no less) in his blood-spattered action-pic call for environmental awareness, "On Deadly Ground" (1994) and co-starred with Sylvester... Continue Bio >>